VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The main beach with the green hills behind, Sayulita
SayulitaThe main beach with the green hills behind

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sayulita by Luisalvaz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galle or Sayulita?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Galle for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Galle’s own page.

Choose Sayulita for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sayulita’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Galle and Sayulita are level on 80.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Sayulita 42: Galle leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Sayulita 7: Galle leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Sayulita 33: Sayulita leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Sayulita 72: Sayulita leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Sayulita 42: Galle leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Galle and Sayulita are level on 42.
Getting around. Galle 35, Sayulita 48: Sayulita leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Galle and Sayulita are level on 33.
Affordability. Galle 72, Sayulita 45: Galle leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Sayulita 12: Sayulita leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Sayulita 58: Galle leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Sayulita.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Galle
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Sayulita
43match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Galle in July

28 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Sayulita in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
342 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleSayulita

Where the figures come from

Galle has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Sayulita has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Sayulita: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGalleSayulita
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation0 m2 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)29 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleSayulita
City population93,1183,390
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Sayulita somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.